Night Walker
by DeadxColor
Summary: She was a hero in her village, and she would have kept it at just that if she could. If killing the great white buffalo-bear meant leaving behind everything she loved, she would have preferred to have never be named a hero at all. OC fic, no current pairings.
1. Introduction

**Starting fresh. New story, new year. Hope you enjoy. **

**This first chapter is more of an introduction to the character, the following chapters should be longer.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything except the OCs, and possibly the great white buffalo-bear.**

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The night in which Isra had been born was not unlike any other. It was winter, and bitterly cold; and all was silent for her first few breaths as the healer placed her into her mother's arms.

The years to follow however, would proven to be anything but normal. Before the child had turned to her first year, she had lost her mother to a tragedy not spoken of in the Northern Water Tribe. As Isra developed more, it was clear to see that soon her abnormal sleeping patterns wouldn't be the only thing strange about her.

Isra had always had a sickly fair toned skin, pale in comparison to her tribe members, yet nothing compared to Princess Yue's snowy glow.

Now as Isra neared the ripe age of sixteen, her pale skin in comparison to those of her tribe members could be mistaken for a lack of seeing the daylight. Isra had, and always had, slept in odd shifts. It was her father's nightmare when she was a young child. She would tire during the daylight hours and be alert as the sun set in the west.

Isra was more than capable of taking care of herself now, and her father no longer worried himself over the health of his daughter and her strange sleep schedule. Her father merely nodded over to her in acknowledgement as she put her pack on to head out for the night just like any other.

That night Isra was going to meet with Hermant, a boy born the beginning of the same winter she had been born. They had both agreed on a hunting deal before the end of summer brought back the harsh snowstorms, and they would surely lose their game's tracks in the snow.

It was quite rare for the snow to melt completely in the Northern Water Tribe. It didn't happen often, and when it did, usually great prosperity and luck followed. Farmers were able to properly grow fruits like blueberries and blackberries that normally died once a frost hit, and merchants usually did exceptionally well with customers looking for thinner cloths without the wintery breeze to chill them.

Even Isra was quite pleased. Though she adored the cold and snow, for once she could wear her fine leather shoes that were thin at the soles so she could tread quietly while tracking her prey without her toes freezing.

Hermant was already waiting for her by the time she arrived, his back was to her, and Isra couldn't help but to smirk. Making sure she treaded lightly, and without sound (something she had learned to do after stalking many prey in countless winters with crunchy snow), Isra tapped his left shoulder. She had to duck to his right, being nearly the same height as him, and hold in her laughter as Hermant spun around.

"Looking for me?" Isra asked playfully, as Hermant spun around to see her already in front of him.

Hermant shook his head, making more brown hair fall out of his warrior's wolftail.

"You have to stop being sneaky like that." He said with a toothy smile.

Isra however was nearly bouncing in her favorite hunting shoes. "Did you bring it?" She couldn't help but to ask her friend impatiently.

Hermant rolled his icy toned blue eyes and removed something wrapped delicately in cloth tied to his back. Holding it out, Isra could barely contain herself as she snatched it up.

"Dad said you could have it if you can catch the great white buffalo-bear." Hermant said to her as her hands flipped over the material.

Isra beamed in a way that only a huntress would understand. In her hands was an orca-seal's bone bow. Light as feather and gleaming in a true ivory, she almost couldn't believe she was holding it. Blue stones at either end to balance the weight, and detailed carvings on the outer edge, that appeared to once have red paint over them, but now had faded with time.

"This will be the last good hunting trip before the summer ends." Isra said almost sadly, realizing the easy game the tribe had caught would be gone by fall.

Hermant nodded. "Winter will be hard. It's going to come early this year- I can nearly feel the frost coming."

Isra was never good with weather patterns like Hermant was. She had over time just adapted to the natural cold of the North Pole, especially when she was most alert during the night when the temperature dropped.

"Should we get going then?" Isra asked, wrapping the ocra-seal bow and placing it in her pack.

"Yes. Sun's almost set, we should get back to where we've been seeing tracks." Hermant said.

The two tribe members went towards the east gate that led out to the mountains. A guard on duty nodded at their departure. "Good luck." He whispered, thankful that two young warriors were off to (hopefully) take down the buffalo-bear that roamed near the city.

Isra followed behind Hermant. They were both silent as they went through the usual snowy ascent of the mountains.

For once the ground was squishy and easy to navigate. Isra had to dig out her grey clothing to blend in with the rock of the mountains. Now that the snow had mostly melted, the terrain's colors had shifted to greys and greens.

The two kept on the invisible path. During winter ice roads were forged by benders; however in the rare warm weather, one would have to go off of memory. Hermant being the one with the impeccable memory of the lay of the land, lead the way naturally.

Isra was the one to stop first, she made a shushing noise to draw Hermant's attention. She motioned towards the rock wall behind them, and pushed herself against it, Hermant following after her.

Isra kept her breathing steady as she drew her bow, a simple wooden one that was a little worse-for-wear as of late. She tried to ignore the heaviness of Hermant's breath next to her.

In the distance Isra could hear the distinctive hoof and padded sounds against the rock and earth. She was still trying to figure out which direction the beast was when the flash of white caught her eye.

She saw the great horned beast from afar. It's flat, white head sniffing the night air. If Isra and Hermant were lucky the buffalo-bear wouldn't catch their scent. Isra notched an arrow and took aim, she had a perfect shot.

The buffalo-bear turned and went about its business, but Hermant and Isra stayed glued to the rocks.

Finally, after a few minutes, Isra lowered her bow, and Hermant let out a long drawled out sigh.

"That was close." He breathed, having to practically force his hands away from his hips where his blades rested.

Isra placed the unused arrow back into its place.

"Isra?" He asked.

She was silent, all the while staring at where the buffalo-bear had been.

"Why didn't you shoot?" Hermant decided to ask.

Isra had known she would hit the beast from her place in the rocks. While Hermant was the practical one; knowledgeable and smart, she was the warrior; the huntress. She was the one with deadly accuracy and a fighter's intuition. She also knew there was something wrong in the air as she took aim.

"A hunter knows when to let its prey go." She told him, blue eyes closed. She didn't know if he would understand.

Hermant nodded, even though she didn't see. "Should we head back then?" It was clear he was tired after hours of hiking up the mountains. Isra, however, was more alert than ever; the moonlight like her dark sun.

"No. It couldn't have gone far. Like you said, winter's coming soon. If we let it go, it'll nest close to the village. It'll cause more trouble than it's worth in the winter when we can't see it. Best to kill the thing now." Isra argued. She had tracked the buffalo-bear for too many weeks to go back empty-handed now. If she killed the thing, she would be forever known as one of the greatest hunters in the Northern Water Tribe.

Hermant could only let out another sigh, more quietly. He began to hike up the path when Isra stopped him.

"Let me." She insisted.

Hermant had, after all, come along so Isra more or less wouldn't get lost in the mountains like she had when she started her hunt. Her father had pleaded with Hermant's father after her three-day disappearance in the mountains.

However, buffalo-bears were wild animals; beasts. They did not follow paths, rules or moral codes. Anything off the path was strictly Isra's skill set.

She gathered up some dirt and grass in her fingers, and rubbed it all along her arms, collarbone and ears. She scooped up another handful and began running her hands up Hermant's arms.

He tensed at her touch, it was apparent he was seizing up by the time Isra had touched his collarbone.

"Cover your scent." Isra told him, stepping away seeing as he apparently wanted to mask himself. She continued to dirty her clothes with the dirt.

It was something she had learned from her father, when he used to have the time to hunt with his daughter. During the warmer months, sweat was easier to produce and smell in the air. It was easier to detect. The dirt would mask the scent, and obscure it; hopefully long enough to catch the prey.

Isra hoped she would find the buffalo-bear soon, before her perspiration built up past the fine layer of dirt. She readied her bow while she waited for Hermant to finish reluctantly smearing dirt over himself.

"Let's go." She said in a low whisper. She kept her bow drawn, and arrow notched as she ran silently.

She did not wait for Hermant as she moved, his footsteps were not as silent as hers and were sure to draw attention. Isra was sure after a while that she had lost Hermant. She didn't worry about him at the time, seeing when it was all over she could just call to him without fear of losing her prey.

However, her lone wolf attitude made her hazy to what her father had taught her before she started going out on her own. Being the odd one out had made her indifferent to pack tendencies.

Her father used to tell her the pack is only strong if they are in tact. Wolves will hunt alone, but to take down large prey they will divide and conquer. It should have been obvious to Isra to keep Hermant with her, despite his inaccuracy as a natural hunter.

It was plain to see that the pack was broken when she heard his screaming in the eerily quiet night air.

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**Feedback is always appreciated. I would love to hear what you have to say no matter how lame you think it is.**

**On a side note:**

**Isra - a nocturnal journey (in Thai)**

**and Hermant - [a boy] born in winter (Sanskrit)**


	2. The Great White Buffalo-Bear

**Woooo, second chapter. A little sad to see no feedback/reviews but thank you for the follows and faves!**

**Just as a warning I should have mentioned in the first chapter, this story will be mostly about Isra and her part as a side character. She probably won't ever be involved in the main plot line (ie: changing events, as I've seen in other fics), or even have a love interest seeing as that is not the focus of the story. I'd like this fic to be more of an adventure as a side character in this magical avatar world than have her play a huge role as a main character.**

**But fear not if you ARE wondering where all the main characters come in; they will come in due time. I don't want all the good stuff coming too soon. I'm still having fun writing about life in the Northern Water Tribe.**

**Disclaimer: OCs are mine, the OCs being those not mentioned in the original Avatar.**

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Chapter One: Great White Buffalo Bear

Isra spared no time rushing to the noise. She threw away her huntress ways, seeing as it was all in vain now that the hunter was now the hunted. She flew down the mountain side, and skidded on her rear on a steep incline that tore away at the fabric of her pants that wasn't covered in leather hide armor.

As Isra drew near, she could hear the scuffling. Hermant's frantic voice, with ragged breaths and cries for help, and the grand roar of the white buffalo-bear.

She aimed her bow even from a hundred footsteps away she could see the beast rear its head in attack. Like a sabre tooth moose lion, the beast would always rear its head before sinking its teeth into its prey and ripping flesh away in a hunk.

Isra would not let that happen. An arrow fired and hit the buffalo-bear. The beast roared in pain and stepped back.

"Move!" Isra yelled, pulling back another arrow.

Despite the injuries Hermant had acquired, he scuffled back, hopefully out of the buffalo-bear's wild fury.

The beast shook its head, its horns gleaming in the moonlight.

Isra caught its eye. She could see it bearing its teeth at its new target. She wasted no time letting the other arrow fire.

The beast did not stop its charge in her direction despite taking a third and fourth arrow. Now only a few turtle-hair's lengths in front of her, Isra took her time with firing. She needed a more serious kill. She took aim as the buffalo-bear raised a paw with razor-sharp claws to strike her.

She flinched for only a second, mostly out of fear, and missed the beast's head. The arrow had lodged itself in the buffalo-bear's neck. The strike had not stopped the paw from crushing her, sending Isra tumbling back.

Though disoriented from the fall, Isra flipped herself over, realizing that her bow was no longer in her hand, and the items from her pack scattered.

Isra pushed herself up, and instantly felt a searing pain in her left arm.

She had no time to assess, no time to scavenge for the things that had spilled from her pack that would surely help her, all she had were her instincts.

Slowly she breathed in and out. She focused on the buffalo-bear charging at her. She grabbed the first things that came to her hands. coincidentally one hand contained rope, the other hand however had nothing but rocks.

Nonetheless she pushed herself up, and sidestepped the bear, using her feathery light movements to hop to steps of higher ground. That position gave her time tie together a noose.

The buffalo bear, losing it's target for only a moment, found where Isra had perched herself, and began trying to claw its way up the rock wall.

Isra threw a rock up in the air and caught it; using the same hand that had clawed up a handful of rocks before.

She pelted the bear once, and it shook its head. She pelted the bear again and it lost its grip on the wall and landed on its backside.

The buffalo-beast roared and circled near the base of the wall. It put its paws on the wall and roared menacingly upwards creating a spiral of wind that blew strands of hair loose from Isra's braid back. She could smell death on the beast's breath from those who had failed before her.

She squinted her eyes and threw the noose down at the buffalo-bear, hoping it would snag any part of its body. The rope did just the opposite of that, and landed just to the left of the beast.

Isra could feel a growl growing in the back of her throat. Within seconds it unleashed, Isra letting a mangled warriors cry escape, and the buffalo-bear roaring at its prey in return.

What a sight it must have been for Hermant, leaning against the rocks cradling his injured arm and rib. He could hardly believe the quiet black wolf of the pack was standing her ground to a buffalo-bear, the great white buffalo-bear that was legend around the Northern Water Tribe.

In the heat of the moment, the buffalo-bear went back to crouching on all fours, no doubt to gain power to lunge upwards to reach its target.

The rope, now underneath the buffalo-bear, was what caught Isra's cerulean blue eyes.

She snagged it upwards, only to no avail. She narrowed her eyes and fixed her stance, she pulled up on the rope with all of her might. Isra could feel pain in the arm where she'd been injured, she felt the strain on her small wiry muscles. But finally, she felt the rope slide on the buffalo-bear's paw.

She yanked the rope tighter around the buffalo-bear's hind leg. Isra smiled. Though the buffalo-bear began thrashing and tugging with the rope around its leg, Isra was now the one with the upper hand, quite literally as she stood above the bear.

Isra reached down to her hip where her hunting knife rest, the same one she should have grabbed when she'd been struck down by the magnificent beast. She grasped it with gusto, changing her stance so she was ready to strike.

She twirled the rope around the buffalo-bear, all the while absorbing the shock from the resisting beast.

Now was her chance to strike, she could feel the moment beneath her skin. With one hand wrapped in the rope and one holding the knife she vaulted from the rocks down to her prey. She landed backwards on the bucking buffalo-bear.

Almost with ease she spun forwards, using the remaining foot of rope to restrain the beast's muzzle.

Isra dug her knife into the buffalo-bear's side for leverage so she could pull back as the bear tried to rear its head free from the rope. She knew the beast had layers of fat, and it would do no fatal harm except matt the fur in sticky red.

With a hard pull on the makeshift reigns, Isra tightened her thighs on the bear so he couldn't buck her off. She yanked her knife from its side and with one swift motion she cut into its neck.

Just like that, the buffalo-bear's legs gave away. Muscle's no longer resisting the fight, and body dropping to the ground.

In the drop, Isra had rolled off to the ground, heaving her knife with her.

She lay next to the beast she had struggled with. She looked up into its coal like eyes.

The buffalo bear almost nodded in approval at Isra, accepting the fact that she had bested it. She watched as it took one last breath, and then saw the life leave its eyes.

"You okay?" She heard Hermant, hobbling over to her.

She nodded. She was tired, and surely injured, but she was the best she had ever been. She, Isra of the Northern Water Tribe, Daughter of the Cheiftain's Advisor, Kiet, black wolf of the pack had taken down the almost mythical beast that had stalked the city. She was better than okay, she was fantastic.

Isra finally, after laying on the ground for a few moments, had gotten herself up. She assessed Hermant's injuries, making sure he stayed put while she rounded up her inventory that was scattered in the fight. Her old bow, the ratty wooden one, was splintered to pieces by the claws of the buffalo bear. Isra supposed it wouldn't matter seeing as the Orca Seel bow was now hers.

After collecting her things in her torn pack, she sat on the ground next to Hermant, admiring the sky as it lightened from the approaching sunrise.

A thundering down the mountain was what caught both teens attention, two guards from tribe, both on polar bear dogs, had come after hearing yelling down the mountain.

The guards seemed stunned at first, that there were only two kids there next to the fallen buffalo-bear. One asked if there were more tribe members out there with them, but the girl, Isra as he recalled, answered with a proud 'no'.

The two guards made haste to waterbend an ice sled together and haul both the kids and the beast on it. With the rope Isra had provided, the polar-bear dogs brought them to the tribe right as the sun was peeking over the arctic waters.

At the east gate, Isra was met with a small crowd of people, her father the first to run forward and greet her.

"Isra!" He called.

She hopped the sled before it had fully stopped to meet his embrace. She had been surprised her father was getting so emotional as he hugged her tightly.

"Dad?" She asked, pulling away to see him. In the morning light he looked so much older with worry, his wolftail done in a mess atop his head as if in an obvious rush.

Kiet breathed a sigh. "I was just worried something had happened. I'm glad you're safe Isra." He admitted. It almost brought Isra to tears. "The whole tribe could hear the roars from the mountains." He told her.

Isra looked up to the mountains, she hadn't thought her voice would carry down the rocks so easily.

There were gasps from all around her, as the small and curious crowd began to whisper about the buffalo-bear, and Isra no doubt.

"Isra, did you really take the great beast down yourself?" Someone had asked her, in sheer disbelief a _girl_ of all people had killed such a legendary thing.

She nodded.

Her father placed a hand on her shoulder. He whispered something in her ear that made her grin ear to ear.

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**What did her father say to her? Well I might not tell until ten chapters later *grins evilly***

**I would very much appreciate feedback, so I thank you in advanced if you review!**


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